The present invention relates to a stand or base for a device, such as a lamp, suspended from an articulated arm, and more particularly, the present invention relates to a portable stand that supports articulated arm lamps and the like in a stable manner on an underlying surface.
FIG. 1 illustrates the conventional manner in which a prior art articulated arm lamp is mounted to an edge of a table 12 via a mounting clamp 14. Typically, the articulated arm lamp has a mounting bracket 16 with a depending lug 18 that is engaged by the mounting clamp 14. The lamp can be re-positioned in upward, downward, or lateral directions by extending and/or retracting the articulated arm 22, and the bracket 16 and arm 22 are freely rotatable about mounting clamp 14. A disadvantage of using a mounting clamp 14 is that it requires the presence of a table edge or the like, thereby limiting the use and placement of the articulated arm and lamp.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,613,771 issued to Siverling discloses an articulated swing arm lamp mounted on a tripod stand. The lamp is permitted to rotate freely about the stand, and the use of a counterbalance weight is necessary to ensure that the stand remains stable when the articulated arm is extended laterally of the stand. U.S. Pat. No. 5,060,894 issued to Hillinger, U.S. Pat. No. 3,961,176 issued to Gleason, D.350,410 issued to Gehlhar, U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,459 issued to Yu et al., U.S. Pat. No. 6,454,228 issued to Bosnakovic, U.S. Pat. No. 5,890,793 issued to Stephens, U.S. Pat. No. 5,871,185 issued to Phillips et al., D.397,234 issued to Huang, and D.265,764 issued to Franks disclose various tripod lamp stands, and U.S. Pat. No. 5,428,520 issued to Skief, U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,160 issued to Sechelski, U.S. Pat. No. 6,213,626 issued to Qian, U.S. Pat. No. 1,255,185 issued to Lehmkuhl, U.S. Pat. No. 1,340,108 issued to Blasco, U.S. Pat. No. 2,090,439 issued to Carwardine, D.305,155 issued to De Lucchi, and D.388,211 issued to Yang disclose other lamp stands known in the art.
Although the lamp stands and bases disclosed in the above referenced patents may function satisfactorily for their intended purposes, there remains a need for an inexpensive portable lamp stand that remains stable when an articulated arm of a lamp is fully extended laterally of the stand. Preferably, the stand should be capable of use with a range of types of articulated arms and should be able to accommodate a range of sizes of articulated arm mounting brackets and lugs.